The invention relates to methods for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is a serious health problem; deaths from ovarian cancer in 2008 in the United States were estimated by the National Cancer Institute to be over 15,000, with over 21,000 new cases annually. It is the leading cause of deaths from gynecologic cancers and the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths in women. Based on these numbers, it is estimated that women have a lifetime risk of 1.39% of developing ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose early, as the early symptoms are often non-specific for the disease. Thus, only 19% of ovarian cancers are diagnosed before the cancer has spread from the ovaries; indeed, ⅔ of diagnoses occur only occur after the cancer has metastasized to distant locations in the body. Once the cancer has metastasized, the five-year relative survival rate (as compared to the population as a whole) is only 30.6%.
For these reasons, more effective treatments for ovarian cancer, especially those who have metastatic cancer, are needed.